Khao Sok National Park

(Amy) Following the madness of Haad Rin, we were ready for a few alcohol free days in the national park. On arriving, our initial impression of the jungle hut accommodation was good, and we went to explore the village. As it's low season, it turned out that even the minimart was closed. However we booked a tour with a nice guy in the village who gave us a better deal than the hostel. Turns out that the hostel weren't too pleased so told us that we couldn't stay there when we got back from the jungle and couldn't book a bus with them either. So rude but it's their loss- watch out tripadvisor! 

Anyway we set off for our tour and met up with our guide, and our group of 8 spent the next hour or so in the long tail boat to the floating raft house accommodation. The lake in the park is so huge, it's a bit of a shock to jump in and find it's not the salty sea! The scenery was stunning and reminded us a bit of Halong Bay. 

We arrived at our floating raft house in time for a swim before lunch....

After lunch we went on a jungle trek to Nam Ta Loo Cave, which involved crossing a fair few rivers and our guide checking our legs now and again for leeches... Luckily none were found! As it is rainy season in Thailand the cave is officially closed, but all the guides were taking their groups in a short way anyway. Stripped down to nothing more than a bikini and head torch we waded through the cave, most of the way the water way knee height, with a few bits where you were up to your chest. Pretty cool! Then we walked back to camp for a bit more swimming.

So much bamboo! Our guide made us a few bamboo flutes too. 

After dinner we headed out in the boat again for night safari. If you're lucky you can see elephants, monkeys and various other things, sadly we did not! However we did see a family of giant hornbills, an owl, loads of fireflies and a shooting star. It was also cool to hear all the jungle sounds at night. 

Heading back to the rafthouse during the 4 hours of electricity...

Few games of cards and it was time for bed, trying not to think too much about all the jungle sounds!

The next day started with an early morning safari as the sun came up. The highlights were a giant eagle, hearing the calls of gibbons from deep in the jungle and seeing a huge family of long tailed macaques. 

After breakfast we left the rafthouse and headed to another huge huge cave, full of stalactites, stalagmites, bats and shit loads of huge spiders! At one point we all turned our lights off and learnt the meaning of total darkness. 

Eventually, with a few more beautiful swimming stops, we headed back to the pier, and managed to find a bus to Krabi.